‘Conservatism merely reflects the interests of the privileged and prosperous.’ Discuss (45)
This statement is asking whether all forms of conservatism’s values and actions in the past are because they wish to reflect the interests of those in society who are better off, sacrificing the interests of the less well off in doing so. The current debate is very unclear as opinion on this does, and always has varied greatly. Generally, left-wing labour supporters believe this statement is true whereas the rest of society do not agree. Conservatives have strenuously denied this claim over the years. This essay will argue that Conservatism does in fact merely reflect the interests of the privileged and prosperous, despite this claim being…show more content… Thus, by arguing against change, the interests of the privileged and prosperous are upheld. Therefore, Conservatism does merely reflects the interests of the privileged and prosperous as conservatives only believe in authority and tradition so strongly because of the fact that it prevents the less privileged and prosperous from questioning power and society as a whole which could lead to revolt. Therefore ultimately stopping the privileged and prosperous from losing any power and wealth.
Overall, the most convincing argument is arguably that Conservatism does merely reflect the interests of the privileged and prosperous as authority and tradition has in the past and still does favour the interests of the better off section of society due to the fact that old, hierarchical rules laws are kept in place due to the lack of revolt by the less privileged. Also, despite authority and tradition being put in place to stabilise society as a whole, which on paper benefits everyone, it is actually there to prevent revolt by the less privileged as it prevents them from realising that inequality in society can be stopped. A lack of revolt means that the privileged and prosperous can maintain their power in society without it being questioned.
On One hand, Conservatism does not merely reflect the interests of the prosperous and privileged, due to the One-Nation strain of Conservatism, which believes in a
